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Ehren Reed, the Skoll Foundation’s Director of Evaluation, was recently asked what matters when he is looking at the measurements social entrepreneurial organizations use.

“Organizations have the power to achieve the change donors are looking to make,” he says. Here are some of his “izes,” as he calls them:

Contextualize. It’s helpful when I can see clearly how the work is contextualized within an organization’s efforts. Whether it’s Kevin Starr’s 8- Word Mission Statement or a theory of change, there needs to be clear description of their goals, and the actions they are doing to lead to that. I want to know how those metrics you’re sharing connect with that core strategy.

Prioritize. There are a ton of things that you could be measuring. The fact that you have gone through an exercise to winnow it down to meaningful measures is a good sign. Those measures should be influenced by what you are able to do with that information. If you are collecting something you are not making use of, you are wasting time and money.

Capitalize. Don’t answer a question that you need not answer. There are certain outcomes and indicators that are critical to your work, and more attributable to your efforts. Concentrate on those. There are others that you can say, ‘We made a contribution to those.’ Leave those alone. For example: Citizen Schools increases graduation rates of students who attend their program by 20 percent over a control; that’s the compelling story. I don’t need to know whether that leads to greater income generation after high school graduation; there are studies that already show me that. Be efficient with the way you are spending your dollars.

Right Size. Not everyone in the organization needs to look at all the same data. At One Acre Fund, workers in the field pay attention to which farmers are attending trainings, what types of uptake are they having with particular techniques they are being taught, and types of repayment rates. That’s the type of information they need to know to see if they are doing their job effectively. Middle managers look at aggregated data. Leadership looks at only a key set of performance indicators. So right size your approach accordingly.

Systematize. The idea that we see M and E as a separate report gives me pause; it’s a dangerous misnomer. It needs to be part and parcel of your programmatic activity. If it’s all focused on a report which comes out once a year, and there is not a lot behind the scenes leading up to that report, that gives me pause. An example: Your car dashboard metrics allow you to know if your car is functioning effectively. You look at the dashboard every day. It’s only when you get to the selling of the car that you say, ‘It gets a lot of miles per gallon,’ or ‘It’s been in two minor accidents.’

The United Nations just released its 2015 Millennium Development Goals report, so we thought it was a good time to share the thoughts of five experts who joined the United Nations’ Tomas Anker Christensen in discussing the MDGs—and measuring development efforts in general—at the recent Skoll World Forum. Launched by world leaders and the UN in 2000, the MDGs gave eight measurable goals to alleviate poverty and improve lives by the end of 2015.

Listen to the conversation, above, moderated by Pamela Hartigan of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepeneurship. Panelists included Michael Green of the Social Progress Imperative, Bjorn Lomborg of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, Bunker Roy of Barefoot College, Dorothy Stoneman of YouthBuild USA, and Patrick Awuah of Ashesi University.

We know not everyone has time to watch a one-hour session, so here are some highlights from each:

“Metrics makers are not connected to the very poor people who live on less than a dollar a day,” Roy said. “These are the people Mahatma Gandhi called the very last man and woman. With due respect, these goals are a joke, because they don’t relate to the lifestyle and reality of rural communities living around the world who are living a hand-to-mouth survival existence.”

“Focus more money on the best targets and just spend the money there…that’s like quadrupling global aid,” Lomborg said, referring to the number of targets or goals. “If we ask governments to do fewer things that are harder to screw up, they will more likely have done a lot of good in 2030.”

“Ultimately, this is about…holding leaders to account by citizens and making these things part of the political debate….what the MDGs did have was an underlying concept: extreme poverty,” Green said, after his earlier remarks on his Social Progress Index and examples of how it’s worked. “So whatever you spoke about related to the MDGs, everyone kind of knew what it was…It needs to be an underlying concept for these ‘people’s goals’ communicated in a simple form so that it becomes part of the political debate so a politician can say, ‘Vote for me because GDP went up and we made progress on this’ …and it’s not about 17 goals.”

“When we began to measure, we decided to ask the nonprofits we work with, what should we measure?” Stoneman said. “So they set the objectives and we have measured them for 25 years: How many people apply? How many people come every day? We measure academic gains, academic achievement, industry-recognized credentials, completion of the total program, placement in jobs or post-secondary education or retention of jobs and post-secondary education, and recidivism for those who have had previous problems with the law…we encourage the government to hold people accountable for outcomes but when they do it too rigidly, it creates a negative effect….”

“There is a lot of positive that came out of the MDGs around poverty, infant mortality and maternal care; that gives me hope that if goals are stated properly, we can in fact achieve them,” Awuah said.

Up to 40 percent of the population in Pakistan could have mental health issues, yet getting help isn’t easy. The stigma against mental illness is prevalent, and even for those who do want to get help, psychiatrists are in short supply. As part of the PBS NewsHour “Agents For Change” series, special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro looks at the efforts being made by BasicNeeds to change this situation.

“’Who cares about the Amazon? We have to worry about global warming and climate change.’ Well guess what, it’s all the same thing.”

In a beautiful new 2-minute film, ethnobotanist and Amazon Conservation Team co-founder Mark Plotkin explains the interconnectivity between many of today’s greatest global challenges and the Amazon rainforest.

“Whether you’re interested in changing climate, whether you’re interested in too many poor people, or whether you’re interested in drug resistant bacteria—which is a much greater threat to our species than climate change, deforestation, terrorism, nuclear weapons—you have an interest in the greatest expression of life on earth, which is the rainforest, which is home to most of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity.”

80% of our antibiotics come from nature, and the best antibiotics are waiting for us in today’s rainforests. It is, of course, crucial to protect those natural resources. The Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) works in partnership with indigenous people of tropical America to conserve the biodiversity of the Amazon Rainforest as well as the culture and land of its indigenous people.

ACT partners with the Trio Indians to create programs in which elder shamans pass their botanical healing wisdom to the next generation of healers within the tribe. Mark’s goal is to fully document the entire spectrum of Trio knowledge of animals and plants.

In honor of Mark’s 60th birthday this month, ACT seeks to raise $60,000 to create the first ever Shaman’s Encyclopedia of the Amazon. “The lasting importance of achieving these goals is the creation of a template that other tribal peoples throughout the Amazon can adapt to their own needs and – in so doing – have a positive impact on saving oral shamanic wisdom in all of lowland South America.”

Cecilia Flores-Oebanda and some of her children were jailed for four years for fighting against the Marcos regime of the Philippines. (Former President Ferdinand Marcos was removed from power in 1986). Her organization, which helps stop human trafficking in the Philippines, was “strained and challenged” two years ago.

But she made it through. And she learned a lot. And today, she’s sharing those lessons with other social entrepreneurs.

“I thought life was in prison was the worst life,” she shared during the “Down is not Defeated” panel at the 2015 Skoll World Forum. “But after I began working with women and children, I realized my life in prison was nothing compared to what they endure.”

Here are 5 learnings from Cecelia:

Don’t lose your endurance. “Fighting slave traders is a game of endurance. I am a very stubborn person and don’t run in a fight.”

Stay inspired. “The children that I serve are the air that I breathe. I am energized by them, and become more proactive and strategic because I need to ‘gather the troops’ to support our fight. Otherwise, I am alone, and traffickers can easily kill you.”

Know your weaknesses. “I am very honest with myself. I know what I am capable of—and not capable of—and that makes me more humble and grounded.

Don’t lose sight of the larger goal. “I am always focused on the big goal: freedom. That the day will come that Filipino women, men and children will be free to explore opportunity without the fear and risk of being sold and enslaved. That gives me hope.”

Your employees are not a family that you manage. “Sometimes my professional relationships suffer with my staff because I have personal relationships with them. I want everybody to be happy, but that also has a negative impact. Invest in a system within the organization. You need transparency and structure.”

At the recent Skoll World Forum, Jim sat down with Morgan Clendaniel, founding editor of Co.Exist (Fast Company’s innovation site), to share how to get media coverage. We covered excellent media-pitching tips from Morgan on the Skoll World Forum Online, which you can read here.

“I’m a geek from Silicon Valley who writes software for disabled people and human rights groups,” Jim said at the start of the discussion, while introducing himself as moderator. “We’ve done press relations badly, and sometimes, well.”

Some insights from Jim:

Use different social media channels for different needs. “We run a web site that serves 350,000 students in the U.S. and we reach them through Facebook. When we are talking to journalists, we are doing it in Twitter. Our press releases are blog posts that we Tweet out and we reach narrow audiences. I will send a blog post to a congressional staffer or a donor.”

Share a story, not your model. “A lot of social entrepreneurs are proud of what we do, but the average person is very non-interested in our novel hybrid financing structure. They want to know, some young girl whose life was completely transformed by your intervention. That is the hook. Journalists want to know there is something real behind that, that this isn’t the one cherry-picked story that is the exception to all the rules.”

Ask your partners how they want to be portrayed. An audience member who works with an organization serving the homeless asked about sharing “non stereotypical” photos of homeless people. “The disability field is very sensitive to this,” Jim replied. “It’s called the ‘Jerry’s Kids Phenomenon, let’s show people photos of really obviously visually disabled kids and make people feel terrible about them.’ Most of us in the social enterprise field have the same attitude you do. We don’t do charity to the communities we work with. We work in partnership for social change. So what we do with our partners, is, how do you want to be portrayed in the media? We do walk away from stories that say things like, ‘This person’s life, benighted by blindness.’ Time out! We are talking about empowerment here. I want to hear a story about how this blind person volunteered to help other blind people and it’s great.'”

Think about small, specialty publications. “For example, we want to reach special education teachers. If we send a press release to Special Education Member Network, they will publish it. That’s not ‘real journalism’ that you just published a press release, but it is reaching the audience and taking advantage of the network.”

Jim also shared how media can help in more ways than one. In response to an audience question about motive, Jim gave four answers: “More social impact, policy change, reach more donors, and reach the people I want to help.”

“We don’t have an advertising budget, usually. So, often, the media is a cost-effective way to reach the community we want to help. We serve disabled kids; I can’t take an ad out in the New York Times. But if I get someone to write a story about a disabled kid who they never thought would graduate from high school but now got into college, then another parent will say, ‘why isn’t my kid getting that service? It’s free.’ But because it’s free, I can’t advertise.

…More of our mission is first. Yes, we want more donors, but …there are better ways to reach donors than to get most stories. But, a Fast Company, a New York Times, donors do read those outlets and they will share stories. A story in your local newspaper might help get a local philanthropist.

A lot of us are engaged in policy. Politicians care deeply about how interested the electorate is in an issue. When the Internet was shut down over bad laws in the U.S., we were 88 out of 90 organizations fighting it, but we had a story on how this kind of law was going to hurt disabled kids and human rights groups, as opposed to Google and the like, so our little voice was an important voice.”

In Nepal, where handwoven carpets are the No. 1 export, Skoll Awardee GoodWeave has been tremendously affected. In a new Nonprofit Chronicles story, reporter Marc Gunther writes,”…All of this is a work in progress, and the Nepal earthquake is a reminder that the best-laid plans can be rocked, literally, by forces beyond anyone’s control. A GoodWeave day care center and an office have crumbled. A staff member lost his immediate family. If, in the years ahead, Nepal’s carpet industry collapses, much of the progress made by GoodWeave will be undone. ‘This industry is going to have to be rebuilt, sustainability,’ GoodWeave founding executive director Nina Smith says. ‘Otherwise the buyers are going to go elsewhere.’ That would be terrible not just for the children of Nepal, but for the entire nation.”

Gunther quotes Skoll Foundation President and CEO Sally Osberg and her “Getting Beyond Better” book coauthor:

“As Sally Osberg and Roger Martin, a foundation director, write in the current issue of the Harvard Business Review: ‘When enough consumers vote with their wallets, retailers and suppliers get the message—and entire systems are forever altered.’ It’s far from an easy solution, though, because it relies on consumers, retailers, suppliers and NGOs to do what governments ought to do–protect children. Try marketing that.”

The article also mentions GoodWeave’s short video, Stand with Sanju, which was Winner of a Stories of Change award from Skoll Foundation and Sundance. The three-minute video depicts the real and triumphant journey of an 11-year-old girl named Sanju.

As Osberg explained: “Social entrepreneurs attack systems and equilibria in society that are stuck in place and desperately in need of change.” Martin added that the book aims to extend the knowledge of social entrepreneurs to provide models for their peers; and to make it easier for funders and stakeholders to understand and identify social entrepreneurs, increasing investment in the sector.

“The real challenge today is summoning the body of evidence that shows us what social entrepreneurship is getting done in the world,” said Osberg. “This will give more leverage and impetus for us to track this wave and prove to governments and businesses what is possible.”

Martin spoke of the tensions that social entrepreneurs have to deal with. “You have to abhor the current situation and understand how to change it. You’re an expert, but also an apprentice. You have to both experiment and commit.” read more

EcoPeace Middle East Co-Founder Gidon Bromberg was on PBS NewsHour this weekend. An excerpt from the nearly 8-minute segment, which you can watch above:

Reporter Martin Fletcher: For decades, Israel and its neighbors diverted the Jordan’s flow to supply drinking water and water for crops. While the river is down 95 percent from its historical flow, there’s hope that someday, it could return to its former glory. That’s because Israel today has more water than it needs — it’s gone from drought to water surplus in just a few years – impressive anywhere, but especially in the arid Middle East, one of the driest regions in the world….The Israelis have achieved something extraordinary. Five, six, seven years ago it was all about save water and bathe together, and now they’ve got more water than they need.”

Gidon: “It is remarkable. It’s been a slow process. So Israel’s leadership in treating sewage has taken place over the last fifteen years, but the breakthrough has been in the development of membrane technology for desalination because that breakthrough in technology dramatically reduced the costs of desalinating seawater.”

We sang. We saw images of war. We saw beautiful art that inspired a little boy who eventually became president of a large foundation. We heard a musician from Mozambique play his guitar and sing songs of social change. We laughed with the “Egyptian Jon Stewart.”

Every single speaker and artist got a standing ovation, and it’s no wonder. Our souls were moved. Our hearts were moved.

The evening opened with Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship Chairman Stephan Chambers saying, “I didn’t warn you that there would be anger, inspiration, modesty, strong-minded, robust, combative, positive disagreement and grace and ambition. Thank you for bringing those things here this week.” He announced the Sing for Hope piano that people wrote on (literally!) during the Forum, which will have a permanent home at Oxford University’s Said Business School, where the Forum is held.

Egyptian Political Satirist Bassem Youssef announced that he’s building a platform with YouTube, to “give the new generation what we thought we lost. We want to give them hope. A few years from now, we will not be controlled by the same people who gave us the Arab Spring. Before this decade is over, we will have independent media.”

Monica Yunus and Camille Zamora, opera singers and co-founders of Sing for Hope, walked out on stage singing vocalese. Then, they talked to us, showed a stunning video of the impact their work has had on New York, and asked the audience to sing. Each said said, “Aaaaaaahhhhhh” in a different tone, and, according to my conversation with Yunus and Zamora afterward, we sounded great!

Ford Foundation CEO Darren Walker showed us how art magazines he looked at as a child changed the course of his life: “I am certain I would not be standing before you today if not for my exposure to the arts,” he said.

Walker also said, ”Jeff Skoll: Congratulations to you for this Forum…for your courage, your humility and your audacity. Sally Osberg: “You are indefatigable. It is your ability to think…which makes you one of the most respected and admired CEOs in all of philanthropy.”

Documentary photographer Susan Meiselas showed us how powerful photographs can change history. She said documentary photography can be “long and thankless, but it’s important that you persevere.”

Skoll Awardee Ned Breslin talked with singer and guitar player Feliciano dos Santos of the Massukos band—then the band caused us to dance. A short film showed video and photographs of the past week, reminding everyone of the best moments from the Forum.

And Chambers sent us home. “Each year, I think we have reached peak Skoll. Each year, I think we can’t get more motivated, balanced, angry and inspired, and each year I am wrong. You astound me. You astound me with your creativity, and I am humbled. Thank you.”

There is no better way to open an Awards Ceremony than with the Soweto Gospel Choir dancing down the aisles.

So began the 2015 Skoll Awards Ceremony.

Yesterday, Skoll Foundation President and CEO Sally Osberg led the community on a journey, back 800 years, to the Magna Carta. This charter for personal liberties “stoked the early embers of freedom,” and the blaze caught around the world. As Sally said, “Then, as now, the driving force for change was the quintessentially human drive to set things right.” We saw this drive in each of the four 2015 Skoll Awardees.

Jagdeesh Rao Puppala demonstrated how the work of the Foundation for Ecological Security is about much more than simply helping people manage their forests, pastures, and water. Even skeptics within villages came to see the value of Commons—a farmer found that improved vegetation in the Commons led to better crop productivity in his own land; a widower’s daughter was able to use the fodder from the village pasture to feed the family bulls, freeing up hours of every day and allowing her to go back to school. “What we saw as a simple planting of trees was a larger story of how people connected economically, socially, and emotionally to the Commons,” he said.

Alasdair Harris introduced us to the “not-so-small-scale” fishers, the millions of people living along coasts who depend on fisheries for survival. With fish stocks collapsing and where people have no alternative to fishing, people are struggling to find enough to survive. Blue Ventures works with communities to show how taking less from the ocean can actually lead to more, catalyzing locals to protect their own seas. “When sustainable fisheries make real sense for this not-so-small-scale sector, we have a hope of putting conservation in the hands of those with the greatest interest in its success,” he told the crowd.

Safeena Husain shared the story of a Padma, a young woman whose life was transformed when, after escaping an abusive marriage as a girl, she returned to school and ultimately became one the most educated people in her village. Today, Padma works to get girls back to school.

“Padma is an Educate Girls Team Balika, a community volunteer who is shifting the equilibrium in favor of girls’ education,” she said. She is just one of the 4,600 Team Balika members throughout India, working to unlock the transformative power of girls’ education. These passionate catalysts enrolled 80,000 out-of-school girls last year alone, changing norms and convincing villages about the incredible merits of educating girls.

Ma Jun described how pollution in China has reached such a magnitude that it cannot be addressed without extensive public participation. The Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs works to provide citizens with tools to put pressure on major polluters.

IPE’s innovative Blue Map app enables users to access and tweet the records of emitters. This “micro-reporting” has motivated hundreds of major coal and industrial power plants to respond—and the app has now topped 3 million downloads. With such engagement and momentum, Ma Jun looks to expand IPE’s operations and amplify its impact.

The next recognition was for the Skoll Global Treasure Award. Jeff Skoll honored Graça Machel, “a hero to people all over the world, whose life story is a testament to the power of radical thinking.” Driven by the idea that all people have a right to dignity, Mrs. Machel is a renowned international advocate for women and children’s rights.

In a conversation with Camfed founder Ann Cotton, Mrs. Machel explained how justice and human dignity are the threads in her life. Upon seeing the suffering of children in Mozambique and around the world, the protection of children came as a call to amplify their voices. “No one is voiceless. The difference is not everyone has a platform where their voice can be heard.” She told a story about an experience in Tanzania, where after a meeting on FGM and child marriage in the community, a group of girls presented her with a gift. “I’m worried about them, and they come and give me a gift. These children are not giving up, so who am I to give up?”

Graca Machel captured a sentiment that underlies so much of the Skoll World Forum. As Sally Osberg closed, she reminded us that the choices we make and refuse to make will keep us accountable for years to come—and that is what drives us to make the world better.

The sun was shining yesterday in Oxford, as the 12th Skoll World Forum kicked off its three-day convening of 1,000 delegates eager to accelerate entrepreneurial approaches and innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing problems.

On the agenda hosted by Stephan Chambers, who helped found the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship 10 years ago, was a conversation about belief.

They discussed belief’s ability to inspire change, and propel us forward. To help start the conversation speakers such as founder and chairman of the Skoll Foundation Jeff Skoll and Archbishop Desmond Tutu shared their personal beliefs. One common theme was that belief is often rooted in the lessons that we learn from home—but it is for us to decide which ones we choose to carry forward.

Jeff was interviewed by Mabel van Oranje of Girls Not Brides, and shared his belief that we are all interconnected—that there is a force greater than all of us. Jeff’s beliefs are based on the values instilled by his parents, and by past experiences—seeing the dire way that people live in other parts of the world; loving to read as a young boy and being inspired by the power of stories; and as an entrepreneur, believing that anything can be accomplished when people rally around shared values.

Jacqueline Novogratz, CEO of Acumen, challenged us to think about other aspects of belief: What are the beliefs that make us more beautiful, and allow us to bring our best selves into the future; to bring our best selves to a world that is waiting for solutions?

Archbishop Desmond Tutu shared an infectious smile, commenting that when you come to believe that you count, you have a worth that is unquestionable. His daughter, Rev Mpho Tutu, shared that the faith she brings forward is one that she lives and experiences, not one that is written.

The Terrorist’s Son author Zak Ebrahim talked about being taught by his Muslim extremist father about the kinds of people he should associate with, and said that it was the isolation that was one of the most important ingredients to being indoctrinated. When he started to have more diverse interactions, it was those relationships that helped change his perspective.

Finally, Ophelia Dahl, president and executive director of Partners in Health and daughter of the writer Roald Dahl, grew up in a creative home, which inspired her with equal parts imagination and pragmatism. It is this perspective that gave her the inspiration and belief that she can change the world.

In the days to follow, the conversations around belief will continue to resonate throughout the halls of Oxford. What are the beliefs that inspire you?

Until two years ago, Myanmar (Burma) was very isolated with no access to what most farmers around the world had, such as credit, proper equipment and roads to get goods to market. In this Skoll Foundation visit to Myanmar, Proximity Designs co-founders Jim Taylor and Debbie Aung Din show how their organization has helped cause a 15 percent increase in rice yield. Before Proximity Designs, farmers spent up to eight hours a day carrying buckets of water to irrigate their fields. Now, with a low-cost pump operated by feet, they can water their crops in two hours, and make up to triple their previous income.

Watch and get a glimpse of the Proximity pumps in action; see farmers getting hands-on training, and finally, meet a farmer who can’t stop smiling as he shows off his new tractor. It’s a tractor he can afford because of Proximity’s products and services.

CNN Journalist Bill Weir travelled to the Middle East and shows us stunning images of the Dead Sea in this new “The Wonder List” segment, called “The Dead Sea is Dying.” He interviews EcoPeace Middle East co-founder Gidon Bromberg extensively.

“I went there thinking this might be a climate change story,” Weir said, “But it turns out it’s really a people story…and water management.”

In one part, Bromberg shows him an area where rehabilitation is taking place, and later tells him a nursery was built there to protect the wildlife. “This is by Middle East standards, a miracle,” Bromberg said, showing him a dam.

You may remember us writing about “Map Your World,” which emerged as a project of our Stories of Change film “Revolutionary Optimists.” We love what they’ve been able to accomplish using this web-based platform to empower young people. Some recent projects:

In 2014 Map Your World helped record the stories and data of over 1 milllion youth in the Philippines helping to restore their country in the aftermath of Typhoon Haian in partnership with Gawad Kalinga.

Toronto, Canada – Grand Challenges Canada today announced an investment in an innovative social franchise approach to scale up the treatment and support of mental illness in resource- poor countries. The approach has been developed by international mental health and development NGO BasicNeeds, to ensure their award-winning model for those living with mental illness reaches as many people in need as possible.

Today nearly 75% of the 450 million people worldwide with mental illness and epilepsy live in the developing world, and 85% of these people have no access to treatment. The size of the problem is huge, with depression alone projected to be the leading global burden of disease by 2030. This urgent and currently unmet need for better treatment and expanded access to care for those living with mental disorders in resource poor settings is what the ‘BasicNeeds Model’ seeks to address.

BasicNeeds’ unique approach works with existing health and community systems, and staff to provide community based mental health treatment through outreach clinics, mental health camps and regular check-ups. However, treatment alone is not enough for sustained improvements to mental health, which is why the Model also increases an individual’s access to emotional and practical support through self-help groups, improves their capacity to find meaningful occupation and employment, and ultimately works to changes health systems and policy for the better.

Through the implementation of its Model across 12 countries, BasicNeeds has presented strong evidence that its approach generates sustainable impact. It has enabled 86% of people with mental health problems in the communities they serve to access treatment (compared to 49% baseline), of which 73% reported reduced symptoms. The positive outcomes of reported reduced symptoms are underpinned by a reduction in mortality. Over the last 14 years, the lives of more than 600,000 beneficiaries have been improved. While this is a sizable number, it is only a drop in the ocean, when we consider the vast treatment gap.

The new investment announced today will enable organisations in Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria to deliver the BasicNeeds Model for Mental Health and Development themselves, under a social franchise agreement, with ongoing training and assistance from BasicNeeds International. Empowering and supporting in-country organisations to take on the independent delivery of the BasicNeeds Model will expand its reach in a sustainable and cost effective manner, whilst ensuring that quality remains central to the delivery and BasicNeeds brand. Over 3 years the funding is projected to help 10,000 people.

Simultaneously, BasicNeeds Ghana will initiate scale-up through the direct implementation of the Model in new regions in Ghana. To support this process, researchers at the University of Ghana will be rigorously testing the Model’s cost utility as compared to standard approaches to mental health treatment provided by the Ghana public health system. This will involve measuring costs against economic welfare, functional capacity and Quality Adjusted Life Years gained.

Grand Challenges Canada is investing $1 million CAD, bringing the total funding to $2 million CAD from investments made by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), the Skoll Foundation, Caritas Nyeri, the Ministry of Health in Osogbo Osun State, Nigeria, and the Kenyan and Ghanaian governments.

“We are absolutely delighted to receive this generous investment from Grand Challenges Canada to improve the lives of thousands of people suffering from mental illness in Africa. We are hugely grateful for this support. This investment in our social franchise programme will give us the opportunity to build the capacity of organisations in Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria to effectively implement our holistic model and make a difference to many more lives,” said Chris Underhill, Founder President of BasicNeeds.

“Despite the obvious size of the problem, to my surprise I have found that tackling depression is sometimes portrayed as a luxury in both richer and poorer nations, something to aspire to when basic standards of living, and basic levels of physical health, are met. The reality, however, is that without good mental health, all other areas of life unravel. Depression prevents people from studying or working and impairs their relationships with others. It can also damage physical health, as an individual’s ability to look after themselves is reduced. In resource-poor settings, sufferers find their social standing is decimated as they become unable to contribute economically to their family, and their unusual behaviour makes them feared and rejected by their community.”

Limited-edition Chalices help support the cause: One Chalice provides five years of clean water to one person in the developing world

(NEW YORK, NY – January 22, 2015) – Today,with the support of Water.org and its co-founders Matt Damon and Gary White, Stella Artois launched its first global social impact campaign ‘Buy a Lady a Drink’ to drive awareness of the global water crisis and help provide solutions. Every day, women around the world spend a combined 200 million hours collecting clean water for their families. ‘Buy a Lady a Drink’ aims to help put a stop to these water-collecting journeys, so women can start new journeys of their own.

Stella Artois has made a donation of $1.2 million to Water.org and is now inviting consumers to join the cause by purchasing limited-edition Chalices. One Chalice will help Water.org provide five years of clean water to one person in the developing world. In the U.S., consumers can purchase one of the 20,000 exclusive Chalices for $12 at Amazon.com; all proceeds from sales of the Chalices will be donated to Water.org. Beyond purchasing a Chalice, consumers will also be able to learn more about the Stella Artois ‘Buy a Lady a Drink’ campaign, the partnership with Water.org and stories of women directly impacted by the global water crisis by visiting http://www.BuyALadyADrink.com.

“We’re honored to be joining forces with this premier global brand that has stepped up to support Water.org and help us raise awareness of the water crisis,” said Gary White, co-founder of Water.org.

“Awareness is as important as fundraising,” said Water.org co-founder Matt Damon. “We want people to understand the issue in all its complexity.”

As UN member states begin their discussions on the post 2015 sustainable development framework on January 19th, Landesa and its partners want to continue efforts to ensure that land rights for women and men is explicitly included in the post 2015 development goals, targets, and indicators.

This video makes the case for why it is vital to retain secure land rights for women and men under three key goals: poverty, nutrition, and gender equality. Learn more: http://landpost2015.landesa.org